Day 292, Year 1: Beautiful Day with Fantastic Sailing
Date: Saturday, August 5, 2006
Weather: SSE Winds 15-20
Latitude: 20 degrees 55 minutes S
Longitude: 160 degrees 17 minutes W
Location: Passage from Rarotonga to American Samoa, Day 1
Miles to Go: 715 (out of 747)

Rarotonga is almost out of sight. We got up expecting morning rain, but for the first day that we can remember, there was no rain. Mark went to the market, returned the rental car and the wheel chair, and then returned to get Windbird ready to leave. I listened to the morning net and tried to hear the weather, but reception was sketchy. Basically, there are no major systems at play right now and the weather should be fairly stable for at least a couple of days. We left the harbor at 1030 this morning after a little difficulty pulling up the anchor. The boat next to us, Capaz, had put out a second anchor and it was on top of ours, but we had anticipated this and Capaz’s captain, Todd, was there to help us. There was no wind in the harbor, so otherwise it was an easy out. The sailing today has been fantastic under blue skies with lots of sunshine. It has been a glorious day. We put up a double-reefed mainsail and the full headsail and have been sailing all day on a broad reach with 15-20 knot winds from the SSE. There is a 4-8 foot swell from the SE. We are headed WNW. We anticipate six to eight days of sailing and would be so happy if we had these conditions all the way. That won’t happen, but you can dream.

We both spent most of the day reading about Tonga and the Samoas. We were still trying to figure out the best place for our son Justin and my niece Lynn to meet us, and we have finally settled on Samoa. It means that we will be in the Samoas longer than we had planned, but the more we read, the more excited we get. It sounds like there is plenty to do and see between American Samoa and Western Samoa. It will be hotter and more humid there, but since I had to put on a jacket this afternoon, that sounds really good to me. The weather there is described as “sultry”, so I may never leave!

060805 Day 292 Cook Islands, Rarotonga–Off to American Samoa

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